More brands are waking up to their social responsibility and doing good work through cause marketing campaigns. Yet too many still go about it the wrong way. I mean ‘wrong’ in two senses. Firstly they are marketing ineffectively and secondly as a consequence their positive social impact is not maximized.

When a positive exchange between a brand and customers becomes quantifiable metrics it encourages brand to provide better service customer service to do a better job and consumers to actively show their gratitude.

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles to organizational structure to employee engagement to customer service an marketplace.

Let’s hope brands recognize that the true power of this technology is not its reach but its ability to communicate substance that adds meaning to our lives. Otherwise brands will be investing in technology that consumers simply won’t buy.

Any institution faces two basic choices if they hope to spark new ideas. One is to leverage the brains trust within their organization by creating a special event dedicated to new thinking. The other is to look outside themselves to stimulate solutions.

Corporations consumers and citizens must begin acting in concert to create a powerful third pillar of social transformation if we hope to meet the social challenges we currently face with equal force. This begins with corporations that choose to alter how they practice capitalism in two ways to serve the greater good.

Gluttony might be innocuous were it not for the fact that gluttons tend to disregard whether their self-serving behaviors harm anyone else. We don’t need to look far and wide to find examples of gluttonous behavior as they are numerous throughout the history of capitalism.

The private sector must play a role in ensuring the prosperity and health of the people who comprise its market. It is time for the private sector to become a proactive partner contributing to the efforts of governments and philanthropies.